Recruiter Abroad - Professional Soccer to Recruiting in Perth and NYC.

Pro Recruitment Solutions: International Recruitment to Recruitment (Rec2Rec) Experts.

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Gareth McGlynnPro Recruitment Solutions is excited to publish the fourth in our series of Recruiters Abroad having recently interviewed Gareth McGlynn who works for Veredus (a Hays company) in New York City as a Key Account Manager within their technology division.

Gareth is an Irish Recruiter who made the transition into recruitment with Robert Walters in Western Australia after a successful professional soccer career with Derry City in Ireland before approaching his 30th birthday. 

How long have you been in recruitment and what is your current role? 

Just shy of three years now – 1 year and 8 months in Perth Australia working for Robert Walters on their Mining, Engineering and Construction desk. Currently I am 1 year and 3 months into my time with Veredus (a Hays Company) on their IT Desk as Key Account Manager.

Previous to this you had a successful professional soccer career in Ireland, how did you end up working in Recruitment? 

Well having spent the best part of my life “kicking a ball around” as a professional footballer for Derry City, I found myself approaching 30 and needing to start a career that would replace football. I needed to find a career that had the same excitement, competition, camaraderie, culture and of course financial impact as football. So when I arrived in Australia in 2012 I interviewed and socialized with various people within IT, Construction, Recruitment, Football and Sales to determine what career path I would take. Recruitment ticked a lot of the boxes for me and it was the only career that I felt could come close to replacing Football.

As a young man what did you do to plan for life after football? At 16 I had just signed my first professional contract and could see nothing else but Football as a career (like any child). Fortunately for me my parents and I made an agreement that if I completed my BEng Hons Degree in Engineering while playing soccer they would allow me to continue dreaming about becoming a top player and earning loads of cash. As I reached my early twenties I realised that representing Derry City in the League of Ireland and Europe was as far as my Football career would go, so I started a small Events Company that is still running to this day. The Events Company and my Degree were probably the two things that I saw as my fall-back from football and if I were to give anyone advice it would be to get that degree under your belt and start a small business.

What was the greatest challenge you had to overcome entering the Recruitment industry?

Without a shadow of a doubt, I personally struggled with being told what to do – as a Footballer I was coached but had never been told how to play football, so trying to learn a new skill was challenging. At such a mature age it was extremely difficult to start at the bottom as a beginner and watch 23/24 year olds doing well at something that I was just starting out at.

Do you see any similarity between professional sport and recruitment? 

Most definitely the similarities are what keep me interested, the competition being the big one – as a footballer competition is the biggest driver (both personal and team), and I knew every week that if I did not perform then someone else would take my place. Recruitment is no different with so many big firms set up to drive competition whether that’s internal competition with your team/company or external competition with your rival firms.

I see you are still playing semi-professional football in NYC. How do you manage to work crazy hours in recruitment, entertain clients and keep up your soccer career?

I don’t sleep! Honestly football is now a release from the everyday pressures of recruitment and something that I need. But yes New York is the city that never sleeps and it doesn’t take long to get into the swing of things. The first six months in New York where a little challenging but this comes with moving country and starting a new discipline, but I am now reaping the rewards for the long hours and hard work.

What do you love most about living in NYC and how does it compare to Australia?

New York is hard to describe, I was a big fan of the Perth lifestyle – weather, outdoor beach living with the big town atmosphere that was relaxing but quite at night. So moving to New York was almost the complete opposite - City living with no real downtime and always something happening with extreme weather seasons (but it is New York). As an example this weekend alone you have the option of going to watch Pirlo. Lampard and Villa play football for NYCFC at Yankee Stadium, watch U2 on tour in Madison Square Garden, have brunch on a boat sailing down the Hudson river with glorious views of the city and the statue of Liberty and that’s just Saturday.

What are the biggest differences from Recruiting in Perth and NYC? (180 v 360 & Relationship v Product)I have now had over a year on both sides of the table and we could argue all night about which works best but I am seeing more and more of the large UK firms entering the US market and changing their format from 360 to 180 to suit their US clients. The 180 relationship format in my opinion works well on large contract accounts; which allows more control over the client that has to keep a headcount with certain specialist skills.

In comparison the 360 product driven market is more of a niche where companies control the market with product. I see a divide in the recruitment/staffing market where firms must decide on which side of the fence they lay. Having worked the 360 model in Perth and now working the 180 market as an Account Manager, the big difference would be that New York is very transactional (clients like working via email and time is of the essence) whereas Perth you could connect with people at any hour of the day and it was very relationship driven.

Having recruited white collar Construction in Perth and Hybris Contractors in NYC what is the greatest recruitment lessons you have learned?

Having had the pleasure to work alongside some top billers in Perth and NYC, I try and pick up something from everyone, but essentially I find sticking to the fundamentals and being yourself is the quickest way to success. One thing that I did learn was that people do business with people that they like, so finding that common ground has really helped me. 

What advice do you have for Recruiters looking to transition into a career in recruitment in Australia and America?

Make sure you understand the company that you are interviewing with, there are so many different ways of running a recruitment business now that it’s key to talk to an expert or someone with experience working in that geographical location. I spoke to 5 major companies in NYC before deciding to go with Veredus a Hays company, it really helped me in gaining an understanding of the market and my competitors. I haven’t been keeping tabs on Australia but I do know that Veredus a Hays company are expanding rapidly in the US, so if you are considering a move to the US now is probably as good a time as any.

Every dreamed of working in NYC? If you would like to discuss your own career within Agency Recruitment reach out to me by email on dualta@prorecruitmentsolutions.com or call me on +44 (0) 207 993 5659 for a confidential conversation.

www.prorecruitmentsolutions.com